Tag Archives: css

TailwindCSS 2.0

TailwindCSS 2.0 – What’s new in TailwindCSS?

We will firstly recap how it works, then dive into what’s new in TailwindCSS 2.0?

In short TailwindCSS is a great way to keep your CSS stylesheet lean over time.

What is TailwindCSS?

TailwindCSS is a utility-first CSS framework, that gives you small building blocks that you can use to build your UI components.

Instead of writing CSS in the stylesheet you are adding TailwindCSS classes directly to html elements.

This might feel weird at the start, but once you get used to it, you will feel much more productive.

Great for UI Components

<span className="bg-blue-500 text-white text-xs py-1 px-2 rounded-md mb-4 inline-block">
    Coming Soon!
</span>

bg-blue-500 will apply a predefined shade of blue to your element as background-color: #0070f3.

text-white will apply color: white.

py-1 is used to define padding-top and padding-bottom, while px-2 is used to define padding-left and padding-right.

You see how reading these classes makes sense?

Are you completely new to TailwindCSS?

TailwindCSS Playground is the best way to play around with it before you invest some time and try to set it up on your project.

I will also cover some basics of TailwindCSS in my upcoming Next.js 101.

TailwindCSS 2.0 – What’s New?

The new version of TailwindCSS has been announced in some style.

I am not a big fan of the overdramatic background music, but there are some very useful additions to the functionality.

New TailwindCSS Website

Together with the new version, TailwindCSS has also a brand new website worth checking out.

TailwindCSS 2.0 Website

It is build using Next.js and the interactive animations are done using Framer Motion.

Of course all the styling has been done using TailwindCSS.

From my behind the scenes sources: it has been build by Brad Cornes in under 2 weeks!

Now what’s new?

Updated Features in TailwindCSS 2.0

TailwindCSS 2.0 Color Scheme
  • Extended color palette – now you have move colors (22) and shades (10) to choose from
  • Extra-wide 2XL breakpoint2xl: is targeting 1536px and above
  • Default line-heights per font-size – now every font-size has its own line-height specified by default
  • Extended spacing, typography, and opacity scales – now you can be more specific when defining margin, padding, font-size, or opacity
  • @apply@apply now works with anything, hover: did not work in the previous version
  • Group-hover and focus-within are now enabled by default. This is useful if you want to highlight a whole container if a button inside of it is in focus, or change the text color of all children if you hover over a parent div container.
  • Default CSS transition – predefine your CSS transition duration and easing and then only apply one class
  • Dropped IE11 support

New Features

TailwindCSS 2.0 Dark Mode

There you have it, quite a long list of updated and new features, that I am excited to try on my projects.

You can check the official release post for more details about TailwindCSS 2.0.

Conclusion

Which of these new or updated features are you most excited about? Or are you completely new to TailwindCSS? Let me know in the comments.

If you want to learn more about TailwindCSS, don’t forget to signup to Next.js 101.

Barba.js and CSS Plugin Tutorial

Page Transitions Tutorial – Barba.js with CSS Plugin

Do you want to add page transitions to your project but don’t feel comfortable with JavaScript or GreenSock animations?

In this page transitions tutorial, you will learn how to use Barba.js with the CSS plugin to create page transitions purely with CSS.

What you will learn:

View Demo Download Files

Installation

Include @barba/core, @barba/css plugin in your JavaScript module, and tell Barba to use the CSS plugin.

// install via npm or yarn
npm install @barba/core @barba/css
yarn add @barba/core @barba/css
// Include Barba and Barba CSS in your project
import barba from '@barba/core';
import barbaCss from '@barba/css';

// Tell Barba to use the CSS plugin
barba.use(barbaCss);

// Initiate Barba
barba.init();
<body data-barba="wrapper">
    <!-- content that stays the same on all pages - eg. header -->
    <div data-barba="container">
        <!-- content that will change from page to page -->
    </div>
    <!-- content that stays the same on all pages - eg. footer -->
</div>

Barba.js will now add and remove specific CSS classes from the data-barba="container".

These CSS classes will be based on the transitions that we need to specify.

If you are completely new to Barba.js, you can check this tutorial to learn more about the required HTML markup.

How to create fade-in transition on page load

Barba.js CSS Page Transition

To create a simple fade in transition on page load we can use the once hook.

barba.init({
	transitions: [
        {
            once() {}
        }
    ]
});

Barba.js will add and remove the following CSS classes .barba-once, .barba-once-active and .barba-once-to during the transition.

/* Page load animation */
.barba-once {
    opacity: 0;
}
.barba-once-active {
    transition: all 1s linear;
}
.barba-once-to {
    opacity: 1;
}

.barba-once and .barba-once-active will be applied at the start of the transition.

.barba-once-active and .barba-once-to will be applied during the transition.

This hook is called once, because this transition only runs once on the page load.

When the CSS transition is completed, all CSS classes will be removed from the container.

Barba CSS with once hook

How long these classes stay on the container depends on the duration of the CSS transition or animation.

Because the CSS plugin overrides the main once hook, any code inside of once will be ignored. The same applies to the enter and leave hooks.

barba.init({
	transitions: [
        {
            once() {
                console.log('this will be ignored');
            },
            beforeOnce() {
                console.log('shows up BEFORE once transition');
            },
            afterOnce() {
                console.log('shows up AFTER once transition');
            }
        }
    ]
});

If you need to run any code related to the once transition use beforeOnce or afterOnce hooks.

How to customize the name of the CSS class?

You can customize the CSS classes by specifying a name for your transition.

transitions: [
    {
        name: "home",
        once() {}
    }
]

If you specify home as the name, Barba will generate these classes:

.home-once
.home-once-active
.home-once-to

The format of the class is always the same: .[name]-[hook]-[state].

How to create CSS transition between two pages

Barba.js CSS Page Transition

Every page transition has two phases.

Firstly the current page leaves, then the next page enters.

To use CSS transitions between two pages, we need to specify the hooks inside of the Barba transition, even if there is no code inside of them.

transitions: [
    {
        name: "fade",
        leave() {},
        enter() {}
    }
]

Now we can add the CSS transitions to the stylesheet.

/* =Fade out, fade in */
/* Fade out current container */
.fade-leave {
    opacity: 1;
}
.fade-leave-active {
    transition: opacity 0.3s linear;
}
.fade-leave-to {
    opacity: 0;
}

/* Fade in the next container */
.fade-enter {
    opacity: 0;
}
.fade-enter-active {
    transition: opacity 0.3s linear;
}
.fade-enter-to {
    opacity: 1;
}

1. Fade out the current page

Barba CSS with leave hook

In the first phase of the transition, we are fading out the current page.

.fade-leave /* start of the transition */
.fade-leave-active /* CSS transition */
.fade-leave-to /* end of the transition */

The state of our container is opacity: 1 at the start of the transition and opacity: 0 at the end of the transition.

.fade-enter-active class defines the CSS transition that will be used, eg. opacity 0.3s linear.

2. Fade in the next page

Barba CSS with enter hook

In the second phase of the transition, we are fading in the next page.

.fade-enter /* start of the transition */
.fade-enter-active /* CSS transition */
.fade-enter-to /* end of the transition */

We are starting from opacity: 0 and finishing with the page fully visible at opacity: 1.

Of course, you can combine the CSS selectors if the styles are the same.

/* =Fade out, fade in */
/* Fade out current container */
.fade-leave,
.fade-enter-to {
    opacity: 1;
}
.fade-leave-active,
.fade-enter-active {
    transition: opacity 0.3s linear;
}
.fade-leave-to,
.fade-enter {
    opacity: 0;
}

Perfect, this was a simple fade transition, but what if wanted to make a transition where both containers are visible on the page? How would we do that with Barba.js?

Let’s see in the next example.

How to create clip-path transition

Clip-path page transition using Barba.js

Now that you know the basics of Barba.js and the CSS plugin, only your imagination is your limit!

In the next example, we will try to reveal the next page from the center of the screen.

We will clip the incoming page clip-path: circle(0%); at the start and reveal it by specifying clip-path: circle(75%); as the end of the transition.

For this effect, we need to have both containers on the page and Barba has a sync mode build-in exactly for that.

transitions: [
    {
        name: "clip",
        sync: true,
        leave() {},
        enter() {}
    }
]

This will append the next container to the page and we will have both containers available for the transition.

Without the sync mode, the current page is removed from the DOM just before the next page is appended.

/* =Clip-path transition */
.clip-enter { 
    clip-path: circle(0%); 
}
.clip-enter-active {
    position: absolute;
    top: 0;
    z-index: 2;
}
.clip-leave-active,
.clip-enter-active {
    transition: all 0.75s var(--easing);
}
.clip-enter-to { 
    clip-path: circle(75%); 
}
.clip-leave { 
    opacity: 1; 
}
.clip-leave-to { 
    opacity: 0; 
}

With both containers on the page, we are overlapping them by positioning the incoming page on top of the current page.

Then we are animating the clip-path from 0% to 75%.

At the end of the transition, the current page is removed from the DOM and the next is the new current.

Makes sense? I hope it does.

It is quite fun to play with these transitions. Agree?

Let me know in the comments.

How to create a cover transition

Cover page transition using Barba.js

In this example, we will look at how to cover the current page and reveal the next page.

For this effect, we will need to include .transition element inside of each page.

<div data-barba="container">
    <div class="transition">
        <h2>Cover Screen</h2>
    </div>
</div>

This is a simple full-screen element covering the whole viewport, by default it is positioned outside of the viewport using transform: translateY(-100%);.

/* =Transition with cover screen */
.with-cover-leave,
.with-cover-enter,
.with-cover-leave-active .transition,
.with-cover-enter-active .transition {
    transition: transform 0.5s var(--easing);
}
.with-cover-leave .transition {
    transform: translateY(-100%);
}
.with-cover-leave-to .transition,
.with-cover-enter .transition {
    transform: translateY(0);
}
.with-cover-enter-to .transition {
    transform: translateY(100%);
}

In the first phase, we are transitioning the .transition element to translateY(0) using the .with-cover-leave-to .transition selector. This is also the starting position for the enter animation.

Then we are moving the .transition out of the viewport to transform: translateY(100%); using the .with-cover-enter-to .transition selector.

As you can see, the stylesheet could grow quite quickly.

Especially if you want to animate multiple elements in a sequence, that is where JavaScript animations with GreenSock come very handy.

How to create a slide transition

Slide page transition using Barba.js

Now that you know what sync: true does, you can come up with any transition that needs both containers.

One of these transitions could be a slide transition.

.slide-leave,
.slide-enter-to {
    transform: translateX(0);
}
.slide-leave-active,
.slide-enter-active {
    transition: all 0.7s cubic-bezier(0.5, 0.7, 0.4, 1);
}
.slide-leave-to {
    transform: translateX(100%);
}

.slide-enter {
    transform: translateX(-100%);
}
.slide-enter-to {
    position: absolute;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
}

At the start of the transition, we are using .slide-enter CSS class to position the incoming next page outside of the viewport.

Then we are animating both containers by 100%. The current page goes away from the viewport to translateX(100%) and the next page moves to translateX(0).

The page entering the viewport is positioned absolute during the transition as we have defined in the .slide-enter-to CSS class.

And that is it, now you have learned how to create 4 different page transitions using Barba.js and the CSS Plugin.

Final Demo

View Demo Download Files

Things to remember

  • You need to add an empty hook to your JS, to use CSS transition for that hook!
  • The JavaScript code in once, enter, leave hooks will be ignored!
  • beforeOnce, afterOnce, beforeEnter, afterEnter, beforeLeave, afterLeave can be used.
  • Currently, there is a bug with the back button not triggering the transition.

Conclusion

As you can see from the above examples, you can create some interesting page transitions using CSS transitions.

You have learned how Barba.js and the CSS plugin works and which CSS classes are applied to your container during the page transition.

Have you seen any cool page transitions on the web?

Let me know in the comments and don’t forget to check out some of my online courses to learn even more about creative front-end development.

Git merge conflict tutorial

Git merge conflict tutorial

Are Git conflicts your biggest nightmare? Do you freak out when you get a conflict?

I promise that at the end of this Git merge conflict tutorial you will be resolving conflicts without any headaches.

To simplify the merging explanations I will be referring to my-branch and his-branch, but you can substitute them for yours.

What you will learn:

How does Git merge conflict happen?

The merge conflicts happen when someone else edits the same lines of code in his branch as you edit in your branch.

In our example we have colors.txt file in the master branch and both of the other branches have a commit that has changed this file.

// colors.txt

// in master, you have both created a branch from here
red
yellow
blue

// commit in your branch
red
green
blue

// commit in his branch
red
white
blue

Do you see how the same file has a different content in both branches and the same line modified?

This would cause a merge conflict.

1. Clean table

Firstly commit or stash all of your current changes, your branch needs to be “clean” before merging.

Also if you haven’t already, switch to his-branch and pull his latest changes.

// in your branch
// commit or stash changes and switch to his branch
git commit -a -m "some message"
git stash
git checkout his-branch

// in his branch
// pull his changes and switch back to yours branch
git pull
git checkout -

Git clean branch

If you run git status you should see nothing to commit, working tree clean.

Are you new to Git? Checkout also this Git branches tutorial.

2. Git Merge

Now you are ready to merge his branch.

// in your branch
git merge his-branch

This will try to merge all his changes into your branch.

Because you have both modified colors.txt on the same line, you have to resolve this a merge conflict manually.

Git merge conflict

The green block shows your changes and calls them Current change.

The blue block shows his changes in his branch and calls them Incoming changes.

Aborting merge conflicts

If you don’t feel comfortable resolving the conflict you can always abort the merge process.

// in your branch
git merge --abort

This will return you to the state of your repo before you have started the merge process.

3. Resolving Git merge conflict

Resolve Git conflicts options

To resolve the conflict we have 3 options:

  1. Accept current change
  2. Accept incoming change
  3. Accept both changes
// resolved colors.txt

// Accept current change
red
green
blue

// Accept incoming change
red
white
blue

// Accept both changes
red
green
white
blue

This seems to be straight forward on our simple example, but I know it can be overwhelming to look at especially if your merge conflict involves big blocks of code.

One thing that helped me with merge conflicts is to use DIFF3. More on that later.

4. Commit resolved conflict

Based on your scenario pick one of the options above for every conflict and save the file.

If you have more conflicted files you will need to open them and resolve them too.

Once you have resolved all conflicts in all files you will need to stage them and commit.

// stage all files
git add . 
// commit
git commit -m "merged his-branch"

// shorter version of the above
git commit -a -m "merged his-branch"

If everything went well you should see a new commit made on your branch, your working tree clean and the merge process completed.

Git conflict resolved

An easier way to look at merge conflicts

To make it easier to resolve merge conflicts I prefer to use the DIFF3 view.

Git merge diff3

When you enable diff3 you will see a 3 way view.

  • the original version – merged common ancestor
  • current change
  • incoming change

Yellow was the original color, I have changed it to green and he has changed it to white.

To enable Diff3 you need to add it to your Git config.

git config merge.conflictstyle diff3

To find out more about Git config checkout out this Git config tutorial.

Conclusion

Resolving Git conflicts can be very frustrating and stressful situation, but hopefully this Git tutorial gave you a lot more confidence to resolve conflicts in Git.

Do you have any tips or tricks when it comes to resolving Git conflicts? Let me know in the comments.

CSS and JavaScript Animations on the web

The Guide to Scrolling Animation Libraries

Do you wanted to finally dive into scrolling animations and share your story or product in a more interactive and engaging way?

Are you confused which parallax scrolling library is the right for you and your project?

Are you drowning in the sea of all the options available?

Continue reading